Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée Cupcakes

This year my husband got me a Crème Brûlée torch. Ever since I opened it I have kind of become a little torch crazy. I am intentionally trying to find recipes that require me to use it or reasons as to why something might need a caramelized sugar glazed…maybe a grapefruit?! It makes everything look enchanted. My kids love it too. Today they burst into laughter as they shouted “Mom you caught the cupcake on fire!” Side note, last year I set my purse on fire in our kitchen. I will never live it down! That memory is “burned” in their minds forever!

In addition to my new fascination with my favorite kitchen tool, Jake and Aiden are coming up with several variations to my Crème Brûlée recipe. I think we are all a little obsessed. Aiden has even requested a large – like the size of a jelly-roll pan Crème Brûlée for his birthday. Which led to my next thought…Crème Brûlée Cupcake? So I went Googling and found this recipe. We love it! Although it took more time than my standard cupcake recipe. It was worth the extra time and thought. My friend, Linda exclaimed, “This is one of the best cupcakes I have ever had”. I will make this again and again, as it combines two wonderful desserts into one.

How do you make Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée Cupcakes?

Pastry Cream

Heat heavy cream, milk, 6 tablespoons sugar, salt, and vanilla bean with half of the seeds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat as necessary if it starts to boil.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 2 tablespoons sugar until well blended. Add cornstarch and mix until very well combined and fluffy.

Take about 1/2 cup hot cream mixture and slowly pour hot cream mixture while vigorously whisking into the egg yolk mixture. Replace back on heat and reduce temp to medium-low. Whisk the remaining cream mixture and slowly pour in the egg yolk mixture.

Cook mixture, whisking constantly until thickened. Allow it to boil for about 30 seconds after it has started to cook out the starchy flavor. I had to go back and do this again after my cream did not reach desired consistency after refrigeration. NOTE: You can boil this mixture again after you have refrigerated it. I did and it still worked. Although it was a bit more like a custard than a cream.

Immediately force mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon of butter. Cover with plastic wrap pressing directly against surface of custard. Chill thoroughly, about 2 hours.

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt for seconds, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.

Mix in egg then blend in egg whites and vanilla. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and blend just until combined, then add milk and blend just until combined and finish adding in remaining 1/2 flour mixture and blend just until combined.

Bake in preheated oven 21 – 24 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly

Pipe or spread chilled pastry cream over cooled cupcakes into an even layer. Working with one cupcake at a time, sprinkle entirety of pastry cream with sugar then heat with a kitchen torch until sugar begins to melt and caramelize. While I torched one cupcake, I would keep the rest in the refrigerator.

One of the best suggestions from this recipe was the coating of the sugar on the cream: First coat the edges of pastry cream while rotating the cupcake, then sprinkle tops. Torch it and add another layer of sugar, if you would like. I personally did 2 layers on all the cupcakes, using about 1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons of sugar per cupcake. Allow topping to cool.

Garnish with whipped cream and a blackberry or raspberry if desired. Serve immediately or put in the refrigerator for 30 – 60 minutes before serving. I found that keeping them in the fridge helped the cream keeps its form and for the caramelized sugar to stay hardened. We didn’t test it past an hour…as we ate them all.

Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board to save for later!

Toppings

1/3cupgranulated sugar

whipped cream

12fresh raspberries

Instructions

Pastry Cream

Heat heavy cream, milk, 6 tablespoons sugar, salt, and vanilla bean with half of the seeds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat as necessary if it starts to boil.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 2 tablespoons sugar until well blended. Add cornstarch and mix until very well combined and fluffy.

Take about 1/2 cup hot cream mixture and slowly pour hot cream mixture while vigorously whisking into the egg yolk mixture. Replace back on heat and reduce temp to medium-low. Whisk the remaining cream mixture and slowly pour in the egg yolk mixture.

Cook mixture, whisking constantly until thickened. Allow it to boil for about 30 seconds after it has started to cook out the starchy flavor. I had to go back and do this again after my cream did not reach desired consistency after refrigeration. NOTE: You can boil this mixture again after you have refrigerated it. I did and it still worked. Although it was a bit more like a custard than a cream.

Immediately force mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon of butter. Cover with plastic wrap pressing directly against surface of custard. Chill thoroughly, about 2 hours.

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt for seconds, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.

Mix in egg then blend in egg whites and vanilla. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and blend just until combined, then add milk and blend just until combined and finish adding in remaining 1/2 flour mixture and blend just until combined.

Bake in preheated oven 21 - 24 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly

Pipe or spread chilled pastry cream over cooled cupcakes into an even layer. Working with one cupcake at a time, sprinkle entirety of pastry cream with sugar then heat with a kitchen torch until sugar begins to melt and caramelize. While I torched one cupcake, I would keep the rest in the refrigerator.

One of the best suggestions from this recipe was the coating of the sugar on the cream: First coat the edges of pastry cream while rotating the cupcake, then sprinkle tops. Torch it and add another layer of sugar, if you would like. I personally did 2 layers on all the cupcakes, using about 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of sugar per cupcake. Allow topping to cool.

Garnish with whipped cream and a blackberry or raspberry if desired. Serve immediately or put in the refrigerator for 30 – 60 minutes before serving. I found that keeping them in the fridge helped the cream keeps it form and for the caramelized sugar to stay hardened. We didn’t test it past an hour…as we ate them all.

Notes

Total time for these cupcakes is 3 hours, this includes the 2 hours that the custard topping needs to refrigerate.

A great option is making the pastry cream the day before, especially if this is your first time to make the pastry cream. Also, I would make two batches or double the amount of pastry cream. My kids and I loved it and ate 1/2 of it before we even topped the cupcakes. We only got to brûlée 6 of them because the cream is that good!

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Comments

Really? REALLY? Are you for real with this cupcake right now? You have made my day for sharing this. I am a creme brulee fiend and I’m already obsessed with this dessert. So perfect and pretty. I can’t wait to make it. Pinning for sure.

Becky, There are some great deals after the holiday on torches. I got mine at a local shop, so wasn’t the best deal. But I noticed this last week Target $30 and Walmart $18. You should totally get one. So happy you stopped by! xoxo San

Oh my goodness these look AMAZING! Creme Brulee is my most favorite dessert so I just know I’d love these! I’m not sure if I could pull off making these but I just might have to give it a try! Pinning these for sure…and make sure you link this post up to That’s Fresh Friday the SGBC linkup every other Friday…it’ll be live on this Thursday night! Thanks for sharing 🙂

These look amazing! I have to give them a try. My brother in-law has one of those mini-torches because he’s obsessed with creme brulee. Now I have a recipe to try it out on! Thanks for the amazing idea!

Creme Brulee is my favorite dessert. As a novice baker, I was anxious to attempt these. Homemade pastry cream? Yikes. I’m so glad I did though. Yes, these take three hours, and I thought, “All of this work to make 12 cupcakes, these had better be amazing.” Honestly, it was totally worth it. Perfect creme brulee flavor. Just be careful not to light the cupcake liners on fire. Saving this recipe and will for sure make again!